LIVE WELL PODCAST | EPISODE 12 - Be Healthy and Still Have FUN with Lizzie B.
In episode 12 of the Live Well Podcast, we talk about finding balance in the pursuit of health with Lizzie Brikes-Rinker founder of Donuts and Downdog!
In episode 12 of the Live Well Podcast, we talk about finding balance in the pursuit of health with Lizzie Brikes-Rinker founder of Donuts and Downdog!
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Show Notes:
0:00: Intro
0:41: Introducing Lizzie Brikes-Rinker founder of Donuts and Downdog
2:50: Lizzie’s take on what being healthy really means
- Her experience as a D1 athlete as a rower
4:30: Lizzie’s first experience with yoga
- “If I’m tired I can lay down and no one is going to get mad at me?”
9:10: How to get comfortable living the the “grey” area
- “There’s not an end goal for health, it’s an ongoing process”
13:00: Lizzie’s experience with an eating disorder, veganism and needing a “rule” for eating
- Lizzie recommends the Beautiful Bodies Book
18:00: How to actually “tune in” to your body and understand internal cues
- Ask, “Am I actually hungry right now? Or do I need something else?” (5 second body scan)
23:35: “If you ran a red light, would you continue to run red lights the rest of the way home?”
28:00: How journaling has played a role in Lizzie’s ife
37:20: Lizzie’s advice for how to be healthy and have fun!
42:29: Outro
If you loved this episode, I'd be honored for you to give me a rating on iTunes. This helps me to get content out to others who are interested in getting control of their health through diet, lifestyle shifts and personal empowerment.
P.S. I always offer free 30-minute discovery sessions to get clear on your major health concerns and what’s standing in your way. Contact me to set up a consultation and we can create a plan of action specifically for you.
In Health,
Christina Tidwell, MN, RN, CHC
LIVE WELL PODCAST | EPISODE 6 - END EMOTIONAL EATING WITH AMANDA PICKERING
In episode 3 of the Live Well Podcast, I got to talk with the amazing Amanda Pickering about emotional eating.
In episode 6 of the Live Well Podcast, I got to talk with the amazing Amanda Pickering about emotional eating. Amanda is a certified health and life coach based in the UK who is passionate about helping women discover the greatness they have inside of them.
LISTEN BELOW (AND DON'T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE SO YOU'LL NEVER MISS OUT!)
Click here to listen in iTunes
Click here to listen in Stitcher
Or if you’d like to play the episode right now in your browser, use the player below:
Show Notes:
0:00 Introduction
0:44 Introducing Amanda Pickering
About Amanda
2:00 Amanda’s personal health journey
Glandular fever, chronic fatigue, hormonal issues, ovarian cyst, thyroid issues, anxiety disorder, agoraphobia, panic attacks, OCD all before age of 21
3:53 “This can’t be my life, there has got to be another way”
4:12 Delving into the power of food
Food is information
Mindset is even more important than what we put in our bodies
Healed from every health condition and lost 25lbs
8:50 4 reasons why people have a hard time sticking to a healthy lifestyle
Not having a plan that actually works (i.e. calorie counting)
Lacking the right support
Self-Sabotage - bringing yourself back to what you think you deserve
Emotional eating - when you eat food for any other reason than because you are hungry
13:00 Reasons people emotionally eat
Struggling to deal with an emotion
When we aren’t getting our needs met in some area of life
When we feel we aren’t in control of something
19:40 Tangible steps to take right now
Ask yourself the question, “Am I actually hungry?”
If you are not hungry, ask, “What happened in the last 30 minutes that might have triggered something in me?”
Feed the need
26:20 How to take back control and improve your relationship with food
31:05 Outro
If you loved this episode, I'd be honored for you to give me a rating on iTunes. This helps me to get content out to others who are interested in getting control of their health through diet, lifestyle shifts and personal empowerment.
P.S. I always offer free 30-minute discovery sessions to get clear on your major health concerns and what’s standing in your way.
We're all unique and will implement each of these strategies differently, so contact me to set up a consultation and we can create a plan of action specifically for you.
In Health,
Christina Tidwell, MN, RN, CHC
Why Your Limiting Beliefs are Keeping You Stuck
I know living with a chronic disease (or let’s be real, just living) can be exhausting, and we're constantly trying to monitor, assess, test, diagnose and improve. It can be really easy to get stuck in these stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. We have the ability to choose the stories that we tell ourselves every single day and every single moment. We have the ability to stop thinking of ourselves as the victim, unworthy and unable to change, and starting thinking of ourselves as humans capable of healing and joy no matter where we are at right now. When you find yourself feeling like a victim and telling yourself the same story over and over again and it’s making you feel awful, take these 2 steps to let it go and reclaim your confidence instantly.
I had a great conversation recently with my friend Sarah about the benefits of positive thinking in the healing process. We spoke about how our limiting beliefs and stories we tell ourselves every day really affect our ability to heal. These are beliefs like, “Something is inherently wrong with me,” “I’ll never be able to do the things I used to do,” “I’m not worthy of health and happiness,” or “I’m just a sick person and I’ll never get better.”
I was thinking about one of my limiting beliefs when I was first diagnosed with autoimmune disease. I felt like I was broken, or sick or incomplete. I felt like I couldn't do what everyone else could do, and I started to let the limiting belief of "I'm not enough" take over. Even throughout my healing journey I've always been searching for ways to "fix" myself.
My healing journey has been a challenging but great one. I've been able to come off medications, improve symptoms, skyrocket my energy and feel really amazing in my body, but I still find these "I'm not enough" thoughts sneaking in and try to stop them in their tracks and tell myself another story. Instead of staying stuck in my head and allowing myself to believe the story that, “I’m sick, I’m less than, these limitations define me,” I just choose again to think, “I’m strong, I’m brave, I’m powerful and my body is doing so much for me.”
I know living with a chronic disease (or let’s be real, just living) can be exhausting, and we're constantly trying to monitor, assess, test, diagnose and improve. It can be really easy to get stuck in these stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. I want to emphasize that they are just that, stories.
Yes there are the facts of having an illness and experiencing pain, fatigue and disability that are real and undeniable. I have autoimmune disease. It runs in my family. At times it’s caused me extreme suffering and limitations. I have to think a lot more about my diet and monitor my stress because I have it.
The point is though, that where our attention and thoughts go, energy flows. So, if we are constantly running through the story in our head of how we are sick and broken and unfixable, then we give a lot of energy and life to the ideas that we are indeed sick, broken and unfixable and they inevitably become our reality. I don’t mean to say that we can easily meditate away illness, or that all we need to heal disease is love and positive thinking because that’s not reality and it’s not the whole story. It’s not always rainbows and good vibes only.
I mean to say that we have the ability to choose the stories that we tell ourselves every single day and every single moment. We have the ability to stop thinking of ourselves as the victim, unworthy and unable to change, and starting thinking of ourselves as humans capable of healing and joy no matter where we are at right now.
So how do you do this? Even when you are feeling low, stuck, hopeless and frustrated?
I take my cue from Gabby Bernstein on this one. She says that when you find yourself feeling like a victim and telling yourself the same story over and over again and it’s making you feel awful, take these 2 steps to let it go and reclaim your confidence instantly. I’ve been using this technique and I have to say, it works for me!
Step 1: Say “WAIT: Why Am I Talking?”
When you find yourself repeating your victim story or hashing out a situation with a friend for the millionth time, take a beat and ask yourself, “Why Am I Talking?” Give yourself a moment to notice what you’re doing and say, “Okay, I’m in fear. I’m trying to control.” Are you telling yourself over and over about how everything is going wrong, or how you are never going to heal? Why are you doing this? How is it serving you? Allow yourself to witness the story so you can shift it.
Step 2: Go General
This is a beautiful tool from Abraham-Hicks. When you start going into a negative story, you create momentum and more fear picks up, and you start feeling totally out of control of your thoughts. So once you’ve said “WAIT,” you can go general. The concept of going general is to reach for thoughts that are general thoughts that you believe in so that you can start to shift your energy and shift out of that story.
General thoughts can be ones like, “I am good enough,” or “I have resources,” or “I have people who want to support me.” You can begin with neutral thoughts and gradually make them more positive. As you start to reach for these general thoughts you create momentum in the other direction. It puts you on a new path that feels energized, supported and more powerful.
To get out of the victim story, we have to be proactive because it’s easy to get sucked back in. You say, “WAIT: Why Am I Talking?” Then you pivot and go general. Deliberately and consciously begin choosing more general thoughts. When you begin to change your stories, you change your experiences. The stories we tell are the experiences we live — so as you refocus your energy and tell new stories about what’s working and what’s thriving, you’ll begin to awaken a different presence within you [1].
Gabby says to, “Stop rehearsing the role of victim so you can claim the happiness that is your birthright,” and oh man do I agree with this.
Let me ask you, what comes up when you read this? Do you get angry or scared to let go of your story or see it from a new light? Do you feel so sick, wronged, or singled out that you don’t want to let go of your victim story because it gives you comfort or relief? If you do that’s ok, you are human. It can be really comfortable to be the victim (I’ve been there many times myself not only with illness but in relationships too) because you don’t have to do anything. Life is happening to you and you are a mere product of your circumstances. It’s easy and doesn’t demand anything of us and we constantly find evidence to prove our case that we have been wronged, aren’t capable of healing, or are unable to change.
When we begin to shift out of this mentality and own up to the role we play in our own lives, we begin to powerfully shift how we feel and act on a daily basis and amazing things happen. This technique has really helped me, and I hope it helps you too. What are some of your limiting beliefs that have come up while reading this? Ask yourself, are they true? And go from there. Remember, don’t believe everything you think ;)
If you want to talk more about your struggle with chronic illness and cultivating a healing mindset, I offer free 30-minute discovery sessions. Schedule yours by clicking on the button below!
Creating a Life You Love with Cass O'Neill
I’ve decided to flip my script in order to provide a little more insight into why it is that sometimes we don’t do the things that we know will make us feel good, in some way. I’m moving from the story, “I don’t have the time” to the story, “it’s not a priority” and am allowing this to add a little fire, a little motivation, a little clarity around some of these subjects. And I’m taking a look at some areas in my life that are habitual. The parts of my life that have become routine, and as the seasons change, so does my lens for my life. Tonight, I am making the time to do a little time for my at-home yoga practice. And tonight, I’m making a list of the other things that I want to do but just don’t make the time. And tonight, I’m doing things. I would like to invite you to do the same!
I've been thinking a lot lately about why I don't just DO THE THING. I was at my friend’s apartment, relaxing and catching up as you do, and I leaned into a standing forward fold. It was in this upside down moment that I had a right-side up lightbulb go off in my head. Do the thing. Just do the thing Cass.
I’ve been thinking for months now that I want to develop and work on my home yoga practice. To allow myself to tune into the natural rhythm of my own body. Simple as that. Just do a little yoga at home. But it stops there. As a thought, as an idea, an idea with good intentions but an idea nonetheless. With no action behind it. And they say that we judge ourselves on our intentions and others on their actions. So I get stuck in this world of ideas, with little action behind them. And the longer I wait to begin, the further away it feels and the inertia is in the non-action, so I remain there.
I have apartment with inspiring spaces, I have a yoga mat that I’m connected with and I have the added tools for the ambiance – candles, incense, plants, music. So it doesn’t have to do with the tools, because I have the physical things I need to do the thing, yet I just don’t do it. It’s the same thing sometimes with doing the dishes, or putting my clothes away right away, or the fact that I love reading and have all of these inspiring books that I have already purchased, yet I don’t read them. Great ideas of things that I know will make me feel productive and organized and on top of things, yet no action.
So, I’ve decided to change my story.
I’ve decided to flip my script in order to provide a little more insight into why it is that sometimes we don’t do the things that we know will make us feel good, in some way. I’m moving from the story, “I don’t have the time” to the story, “it’s not a priority” and am allowing this to add a little fire, a little motivation, a little clarity around some of these subjects. And I’m taking a look at some areas in my life that are habitual. The parts of my life that have become routine, and as the seasons change, so does my lens for my life. Tonight, I am making the time to do a little time for my at-home yoga practice. And tonight, I’m making a list of the other things that I want to do but just don’t make the time. And tonight, I’m doing things.
I would like to invite you to do the same:
Think of something that you desire, something that you want, but have been putting it off – What is it? Write it down.
Put words to why you have been putting it off – What is your story behind not harnessing action around this?
Find one thing you need to clear up in order to allow for this idea to become an action – Write it down & visualize yourself doing the thing you desire or having the thing you desire.
Begin! And take it one day at a time.
Here’s to living in the possibility that we have all the time in the world to do the things we want to do. Let’s revel in that and allow ourselves to just do the thing. The small little things that bring us to the arrival point of the bigger things. And here’s to feeling the shifts in our lives as we step back into choice. Step back into choice of our time. Here’s to feeling like you are taking ownership of your life and the way you want to fill your time. Here’s to doing the things.
Much Love,
Cass
She bops, she grooves, she slides, she baps through life. She is tuned in. Yes, she was probably born with this--after all rhythm is not taught—but she has certainly sharpened her soul through her recent world wanderings, life experiences and saying yes to life. Cass believes that we are all on this earth to love & connect & share in all of the expressions of life.
A new yoga instructor who is hooked on all things that light her soul on fire - movement, writing, & sharing and speaking truth. She wants to connect and share with all walks of life over what lights them up and makes them feel alive. She is a chaser of the light, believe of the magic and lover of vulnerability.
Follow along on her journey